New FA chief scraps target of 2022 World Cup win, Bendtner in talks with Nottingham Forest over move and Luxembourg striker does the impossible

1. The English Football Association has officially declared its support for 68-year-old Dutchman Michael van Praag to become the new President of UEFA. He is currently the vice chairman of the organisation and has been the head of the Dutch FA since 2008.

2. Former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner is set for a surprising return to English football. The outspoken former Gunners player is currently a free agent but is in talks with Championship club Nottingham Forest over a move to the City Ground.

3. Sensationally, Davide Ballardini has left his job as manager of Italian Serie A side Palermo after just two games in charge. Roberto de Zerbi has been named as his successor.

4. New FA chief Greg Clarke has scrapped the target set by his predecessor Greg Dyke of England winning the World Cup in 2022. Clarke said he ‘wasn’t going to put pressure on by saying we’ll win this or that tournament’ and went on to call a clock at the training ground counting down to the 2022 final ‘daft’.

5. Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz has become the leading goal scorer of all time in World Cup Qualifiers. He scored five in his last game before retiring from international football in their 9-3 win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

6. Championship club Preston North End will temporarily be known as Preston North Beginning as part of the Organ Donor Week campaign. Hats off to all involved, well done the Lilywhites (WhoAteAllThePies).

7. Who remembers the Reading song written by the chairman’s wife last season? It was truly terrible. However, these Southampton fans have arguably out done them on the scale of awfulness; this song’s only saving grace is the electric guitar rendition of When The Saints Go Marching In (Joe.ie).

8. Former Bolton and Nigeria star Jay-Jay Okocha proved he is still so good that they named him twice by retaining his keepy-uppie championship by seeing off former Dutch international Patrick Kluivert (Mirror).

9. Liverpool’s new official watch partner (why a football club has an official watch partner is anybody’s guess) scored a PR own goal by mocking the club’s lack of a league championship light of Marcus Rashford’s meteoric rise (Metro).

10. And finally…Luxembourg international Joachim somehow managed to score four goals in two minutes and still end up on the losing side as Bulgaria won the World Cup Qualifier between the two sides 4-3. We’re not sure how that works, but we’re sure it’s unlikely to ever happen again (Twitter).

Ben is a supporter of Swindon Town FC. He is an aspiring sports writer, and his ramblings can be found on TheBootRoom and TheFootballForecast. He is also the editor of TheOffsideDaily. In his spare time he reads and writes about corruption in FIFA, and in football more generally.